The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is currently taking place in Spain and last night favourites USA took on New Zealand.
Along with the Black Sticks and the Ice Blacks in the hockey codes, the Tall Blacks have followed the lead of the rugby side and lay down a pre-match challenge to their opponents. That’s all very well when (a) your reputation as a team gives you a reasonable chance of worrying your opponent, and (b) when said opponents know what the fuck is going on.
This might well be the first time in the modern era that an opposing team has politely applauded a Haka. The indifferent response from the Kiwi’s opponents has led some commentators back home to question the point of continuing the practice when it doesn’t carry the significance intended.
For Tall Blacks assistant coach Paul Henare, the lack of respect from the Americans, the Turks and the Dominicans so far in this tournament is not a major issue, as he sees the haka as something for the team themselves and not necessarily the opposition: “It’s taken for granted because we see the All Blacks do it, we see the response they get,” he said.
“In that respect they get it, and it puts it in perspective if the USA did the haka everyone would fall in line to face it or whatever.
“In the basketball world, or world in general, they don’t have a grasp on what the haka is and that means – more so in a sporting sense. It’s more about what it means to us, why we do it. Regardless of how the opposition take it, we’re going to do it.”
However, as this article says, why do it at all if they don’t care about the challenge laid down?
As expected, the States secured a comfortable 98-71 victory.
